Bäckstedt’s back – his knee trouble is on the mend

After crashing in the Trofeo Mallorca on the opening day of his 2006 season, fighting his way through Tirreno Adriatico and Milan san Remo, Magnus Bäckstedt was finally forced off his bike with a split in the tendon behind his left knee.

The big Liquigas rider was ordered to rest for up to six weeks to allow the tendon to heal. He has been under the care of Doctor Paul Sutton, the surgeon who helped rebuild the knee of top British track cyclist Tony Gibb after a career threatening crash and Allison
McQueen-Luzar one of the only practitioners in bio-resonance therapy in the UK.

Bäckstedt said

“I’ve been very lucky to have had top specialists such as Paul and Allison dedicated to getting me back on my bike. The bio-resonance therapy is quite new and has helped speed up the healing process in the tendon. Tendon injuries are not as straight forward as a strained muscle or broken bones, they take longer to regenerate themselves”

The Swede has started this week with short turbo trainer workouts that will gradually increase over the coming weeks, see him back on the road and get one of the pelotons most popular riders back for the Tour de France.

“I can’t express the frustration I have felt with this injury. When you crash and break something or lose large amounts of skin, that you normally get when you crash, it’s easier to deal with because you can physically see the injury. With this it’s tougher mentally to deal with, but I have had incredible support from my family and would like to thank fans all over the World for their messages of support. I also need to give special thanks to my coach Steve Benton and manager Martin McCrossan for keeping me sane through it all”

The next target is for Bäckstedt to be fit and ready to tackle the Dauphine Libere which starts on June 4th. He will then look to get back in shape to see if he can go one better than his sprint into Karlsruhe on stage 7 of last years Tour de France where he narrowly missed out to Robbie McEwen.

Bäckstedt known in the bunch as the TERMINATOR concluded

“As corny as it sounds… I’ll be BACK!”

We hope so too, so all the best in your recovery Magnus from RCUK!

• magnusbackstedt.com

It is the worst possible scenario for all professional athletes, you train and focus one hundred percent in the off season only to be injured in the first competitive outing of the year. Liquigas professional Magnus Backstedt came out of his winter preparation in exceptional shape only to suffer what seemed like a rather run of the mill crash in the opening stage of the Tour of Majorca.

“As a professional rider its not if you fall off, it’s when and how badly” Backstedt said.

However, early diagnosis of the injury was good and the big Swede was back on his
bike for the GP Lucca and Tirreno Adriatico.

“For me to stand any chance of getting to peak fitness for the classics I had to get through the full race at Tirreno. I had some really good days, but also some where I was just in agony”

Further treatment ensued and Backstedt went into Saturday’s Milan-San Remo, again in good spirits.
“For the first 185km I was cruising, pedalling along nicely and doing the job for the boys. Within 5 pedal strokes my knee locked up and I was in total agony.”

Backstedt is now undergoing further diagnosis to find out the route cause of the injury

“I’ve consulted various experts in the field and will have an MRI scan and from that possible treatment this week. My main focus is to get back on my bike and back to
competition as soon as possible. I still have a window to get back in shape and be fully competitive for the classics, but day by day this window is getting smaller” He concluded.

Good luck and best wishes go to Magnus from RCUK.

www.magnusbackstedt.com